The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has enjoined the National President of the party, His Excellency, Senator Abdulahi Adamu, to deprecate the needless diatribe that formed the kernel of a press conference addressed recently by twelve non-conformist apostles of the Interior Minister, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, over our party’s primaries for the House of Assembly and National Assembly aspirants for the next general elections.
It would be recalled that the pack of the twelve APC aspirants under the aegis of The Osun Progressives (TOP) under the patronship of Aregbesola who was the immediate-past governor of Osun State, has been playing oppositional roles within the state APC more than the conventional opposition parties through the conduct, outbursts, actions and inactions of the members via various fora and platforms.
According to a statement issued by Kola Olabisi, the Media Adviser to the Osun State APC chairman, Prince Gboyega Famodun, which was made available to the newsmen in Osogbo, the state capital yesterday, the copious allegations made by ‘The Aregbesola 12 Disciples’ about the said conduct of the primaries is nothing but preposterous and utter falsehood mischievously woven together in order to grossly misinform the members of the public and the National Chairman of the APC in order to create avoidable tension in the state chapter of our party.
*TOP’s Expected Preferential Treatment*
It is ridiculous, ludicrous, disheartening, funny, preposterous and stinks to high heavens, the allegation by some supposed aspirants under our party with TOP numenclature that they were not in the know of the fact that the primary elections for the House of Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate were successfully held across the state in consonance with the time-table guiding such shadow elections.
It is glaring that what ‘The Aregbesola 12 Disciples’ were hankering after was a preferential treatment with reference to the primary elections which, of course, could not be extended to them as all the aspirants who are equal before the law of the land should be treated equally as it was the case with all the aspirants irrespective of their tendencies.
In the tirade which was full of contradictions, it was surprising that the petitioners who agreed that they were screened without segregation, could needlessly accuse Governor Gboyega Oyetola and Prince Gboyega Famodun of political heresy in their diatribe titled: *”A Rape of Democracy by Governor Gboyega Oyetola and His Collaborators’.*
*Fear of Failure*
A discerning mind does not need a Rocket Science to observe and submit that it was the fear of the glaring failure that is starring them in the face that engendered the hurried press conference addressed by these disenchanted members of the self-acclaimed TOP whose numerical strength across the state is infinitesimal.
Does it not defy logic for the petitioners who alleged that many aspirants were self-declaring the election results to, at the same time, summarily allege that the primary elections did not take place?
If the acclaimed TOP members are having the notion that it’s part of the duties of the primary election committees to be visiting them at their various homes for sensitization, they are missing it.
Osun Duly-elected APC Chairman
The legally recognized state office address of the Osun APC under the duly-elected state chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun, is located on Ogo-oluwa road, by Access Bank, in Osogbo. Aregbesola Campaign Office which is also known as Oranmiyan House is not and cannot be an annex of the state APC secretariat.
Any call for the cancelation of the primary elections by any group of people or an individual is puerile, balderdash, hogwash and diversionary which could be likened to students calling for the repeat of an examination because of their poor performance orchestrated by the refusal of effective preparation for same.
The fact remains that the primaries had been conducted sequel to the screening of all the aspirants who were all found qualified to partake in the primary elections.
Antics of TOP
Calling for the cancelation of the primary elections is another antics of enemies within to distract and hold down the talk-and-act Governor Gboyega Oyetola in his visible efforts to transform the state.
I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the Almighty God who saved Oyetola from the organized but failed attack during a New Year cross-over anniversary at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, sometime ago, is still very much on the throne.
The bungled arrangement to sniff life from the Iragbiji-born governor when he escaped death by the whiskers during the ENDSARS protest at the popular Olaiya Junction, Osogbo, is also fresh in the memory of some discerning members of the public.
Demystification of Aregbesola By Oyetola
The needless bashing of Governor Oyetola by some characters who are claiming to be members of the APC but of TOP extraction every Thursday at the Aregbesola Campaign Office, is still evergreen in the memory of the peace-loving people of Osun State.
The declaration of the Interior Minister, Mr Aregbesola, shortly before the state governorship primary election, to give Oyetola an ‘Ambode treatment’, which could neither fly nor sit, is also worthy of recalling here.
How about the sponsored invasion of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, by political thugs suspected to have been sponsored by the TOP handlers on the eve of the governorship primary election?
The rule of the game is that one should desist from pursuing a known or perceived enemy after series of efforts to get at him without luck.
As the name of his political organization connotes, ‘Ileri Oluwa’ (‘The Promise of God), any hostility against Oyetola by any known mortal in his efforts to develop the state shall, till eternity, remain a futile venture.
My holistic advice for the recalcitrant members of the APC in Osun State under whatever name is to retrace their political footsteps and join hands in the reelection campaign of the workaholic, easy going, cerebral, prudent and ever-listening governor in the overall interest of our state.
TOP’s Unsubstantiated Allegation Against Oyetola
Another funny observation was a needless mountain hill being made by the pockets of some protesters of APC extraction over the said house of assembly and national assembly primary elections.
If not that the Aregbesola accolytes were mischievous, should it not occur to them that there’s bound to be misunderstanding in any group of people which has to do with personal interests?
To the disappointment of the Oyetola inhouse traducers, the political family misunderstanding has since been resolved.
The simple elementary principle in law is that whoever alleges has the onus duty to prove.
One of the allegations of the disenchanted Aregbesola followers was that Governor Oyetola had vowed at a meeting, in the Government House, Osogbo, not to allow any of his predecessor’s supporters to emerge victorious in the now concluded party primary elections.
This accusation against Oyetola by the political agents of rift is a mere fabrication which can neither be substantiated nor proved.
The fact remains that the so-called TOP aspirants prepared poorly for the contest which made them to come out in dull colours.
If the Aregbesola accolytes had expected Oyetola to source supporters for them in order to emerge victorious, they have missed their target in a monumental and irredeemable proportion.
Politics is a game of numbers. Pure and simple.
